Fantastic Four #25: Hulk vs The Thing Round 3.3/Yancy Street Pranks 5

This is a very important panel, and not just because it features The Thing and The Hulk brawling in the back of a speeding pickup truck, although that would surely place it in any list of top panels.

What makes this important is that it fundamentally changes the nature of the Yancy Street Gang. Prior to this, they had been unseen practical jokers, setting up a quick visual gag and helping redefine The Thing as a loveable curmudgeon rather than a raging monster. Here, we are introduced to the idea that as far as they’re concerned, no-one but them gets to have a go at The Thing. We’re twenty years away from John Byrne fleshing out Ben’s relationship with the gang, but by positioning them somewhere between ally and antagonist, a whole world of depth and potential is opened up. I’d argue that it’s this two-panel sequence that truly cements the Yancy Streeters in the hearts of fans.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #25 on our twenty-fifth episode: It’ll Be Our Little Secret, with special guest-host Michael Bailey